Improvement in rolling-mills



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. PERKINS, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT m ROLLING MlLLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 144,631, dated November18, 1873 application filcd June 24, 1873.

OAsE B.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. PERxINs, of the city and county ofProvidence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Rolling-Mills and I do hereby declare that thefollowing specification, taken in connection with the drawings making apart of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a topview. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line as as of Fig. 2. Figs. 4,5, and 6 relate to an improved boxguide used in the machine, but whichis made the subject of a separate application for Letters Patent. Fig. 7shows the means of securing the rolls to their shafts.

My invention relates to that type of rollingmills which employ a seriesof sets of rolls, combined by intermediate twisted guides, to turn theiron partially around its axis while passing from one set of rolls tothe next. Examples of such rolling-mills are shown in the Letters Patentgranted to me J une 25, 1872, and July 9, 1872, respectively.

In rolling-mills of the class above referred to it is intended that eachsubsequent pair of rolls in the series shall have a greater surfacespeedthan the preceding pair; and the relative speeds of the rolls ought tobe so proportioned that each succeeding pair will enable the increasedlength of the bar being rolled to be 11111 through them in the same timethat its equivalent in weight is passing through the next preceding pairof rolls. From various causes it will unavoidably happen that the iron,after it has passed through one pair of rolls, will not be promptlytaken care of by the next pair, and consequently there is a liability ofan intermediate piling of the bar, the effect of which is to cause themetal to jam in the guides. To provide a remedy for this difficulty, inthe practical operation of such rolling-mills, is the object of myinvention.

A A in the several figures represent pairs of rolls for rolling metal,which are mounted in housings in the usual way, and are too well knownto require any special description. There may be any preferred munber ofsuch pairs of rolls in the series, and the iron in passing from onepairto the next in the series is conducted through twisted guides B, forthe purpose of turning the bar partially on its axis, to effect changesin its presentation to the several sets of rolls. 0 represents aboxguide, the details of which are shown at Figs. 5 and 6, and whichconstitutes the subject of another application for Letters Patent.

For the purpose of remedying the difliculty. before mentioned asexisting in the use of this class of rolling-mills, I introduce arelief-guide, D, between the first and second pairs of rollers, and.between any other pair in the series, though, in practice, it will befound that the necessity for this provision occurs mainly between thelast two sets of rolls of the series. In this instance the guide iscomposed of a bottom plate, a, two side pieces, b b, hinged at the exitend of the guide, as shown at c, and a hinged and weightedlid or cover,at. The side pieces I) I) are fiu-nished with springs e, which tend tokeep them parallel with each other, but which, in case the bar of metalpiles up in the guide, will permit the sides to open outward from eachother, as indicated by dotted lines at Fig. 2. If it happens that thebar of metal is delivered from the first pair of rolls, A A faster thanit is taken away by the second pair of rolls, it will pile up in anirregular coil between the side pieces I) b of the reliefguide D, whichside pieces, in the way shown,

or from other equivalent construction, are enabled to yield, toaccommodate the mass, until it can be drawn through the next pair ofrolls. Thus the device which I have denominated a relief -guide performsthe office of a simple guide, to give passage for the bar from thetwisted guides B to the box-guide G, and, in addition, the office of areceptacle for the bar in case, from any cause, its regular passagethrough the rolling-mill becomes interrupted.

While I prefer to construct the relief-guide D with yielding sides I) band a hinged lid, d,

it is apparent that a good effect will result from the employment of aguide whose side walls are not expansible, but which is open at the top,or has a hinged lid, so that the bar of iron will be prevented fromjamming. I therefore consider this modification as within my invention.

By the employment of the relief-guide above described, rolling-millsemploying a system of several sets of rolls can be used with greateradvantage than has been possible heretofore.

At Fig. 7 is shown an improved means for securing the rolls to theirshafts in place of the ordinary spline and groove. E is the shaft, and Athe roll. Transversely across the end of the shaft, and through itscenter, I cut a parallel-sided groove, f, and coincident therewith I cutcorresponding recesses g in the face of the roll. The end of the shaftand the roll is then covered with a cap, F, which,

upon its inner face, has a tongue, h, which fits the groove and recessesbefore mentioned. This cap is secured to the shaft by a bolt and nut, orby a screw, 70.

Another improvement consists in a means for cutting off the rolledbarsto uniform len gths. A A represent two wheels or drums, which may bemounted in a separate frame from that upon which the rolls are mounted,so that wheels of different diameters may, according to the length ofbar to be cut, be brought into combination with the rolling-mill. Thelower wheel has a groove, m, Fig. 3, cut in its face, into which thebar, as it leaves the final pair of rolls of the mill, is to be enteredthrough a guide, B. y

A stationary knife, H, is set transversely to the groove, its edge beingat the same distance from the center of the axle of the wheel, measuredradially, as the periphery of the wheel. The knife consequently forms apartition across the groove. The surface of the periphery of the upperwheel is that of a plain drum or cylinder, and the office of the wheelis that of a revolving bed. If the circumference of the lower roller,measured on the bottom of the groove, be eighteen feet, it is clear thatthe iron bars coming from the rolls will be cut into pieces of thatlength, from the fact that the lower grooved roller, as it is made torevolve, will necessarily cause its knife H to cut through the barwhenever the radius in which the knife stands is at right angles withthe longitudinal axis of the bar passing through the machine.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-- 1. The relief-guide D, constructed with side walls I) 12, madeyielding to internal pressure, substantially in the manner described.

2. In combination with any two consecutive sets of rolls, A A in arolling-mill, a reliefguide, 1), substantially as described.

3. The combination of two consecutive sets of rolls, A A twisting-guidesB, relief-guide D, and box-guide G, substantially as described.

4. The means for securing a roll to its shaft, which consists in thecombination of the ton gued cap K K F with the shaft E and roll A, re-

as described.

CHARLES H. PERKINS.

Witnesses:

THOMAS S. Ooseuovn, SAMUEL AMES.

